The Christmas Experiment 2015: Hours 9+10: Holiday Special Spectacular

Time to watch a couple of Christmas specials since there's always a good time for that.

Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol: This is actually the first animated Christmas Special made especially for TV. It is one of the best, even with the choppy, limited animation that is a hallmark of the series that came after it. This feels like one of the most told stories of all time but still a classic. Things have been cut from the broadcast. I mean, the original was 53 minutes while your average tv program runs 44 minutes now a days.

The music is the other reason I feel this is a classic. The same team that worked on this one, Julie Styne and Bob Merrill, also wrote the music for Funny Girl, the musical that gave us the great Barbra Streisand. It's a beautiful musical that stands against some of Broadway's best.

The one thing I feel that most needs to be spotlight is the voice of Jim Backus as Mr. Magoo. Most people will always know him as Thurston Howell the Third on Gilligan's Island but this is also home for him and he brings just the right amount of pathos, pain, and avarice as Scrooge. He sells the gradual redemption so well with his voice.

Frozen in Time: Because every year I need to watch one special that no sane person has ever seen before. At first, it seems like a special all about a family going to Grampa's for Christmas. Then it turns into so much more because... GROUNDHOG DAY!!! Seriously, this is the third of these things that I've seen in all these years.

So, it turns out Grampa, voiced by Ed Asner, is a mad scientist. The parents are in the top 10 of bad holiday parents. They seem to take extra zeal in punishing their children though their children are pretty bad. The kids bring their dog along despite being told not to and it nearly gets them killed in the process. The two kids in the lead of these movie have no survival instinct. Anytime they see something that will probably get them killed, they go for it.

As far as time loops go, they're not very perceptive. It takes until the complete end of the first loop for them to realize what's going on. They barely learn any lessons the third time out. By the sixth, it does feel like they have stuff figured out and are getting bored with it. The kids try being good and only think to ask Grampa, the mad scientist, after like 10 or 11 cycles.

Turns out the solution is the ultra-intuitive, "We have to go the North Pole and fix the problem because Santa has the main clock causing the time loop." Yep, I guess that's what Bill Murray was missing the entire time. Talking to Santa Claus. Makes total sense. The kids barely react to their Grampa knowing Santa Claus by the way.

It's not a great special by any stretch of the imagination but I guess it could be worse.

Notable Commercials: I like Fred Armisen but something about these Old Navy ads he's doing in drag is annoying. I don't mind drag just... really?

Non-Viewing Thoughts: I know Groundhog Day is pretty much perfect but do we really need to see it inserted this much into Holiday Films?

Late Christmas Ideas: That this is the last time I have to go through this cycle. Seriously, this is the 479089th time I've repeated this day. I've lost count of the number of times I've seen Ernest Save Christmas!
  
Tally:
Mountain Dews left: 11
Amps left: 2
Coffee Left: 2 Bottles
Pumpkin Pie Left: Whole Pie (Out of the oven, cooling off)
Sanity Rating: (1 being Deja Vu, 10 being Deja Voodoo): 5